The Swiss Democrats (; ; ; ) is a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It was called the National Action against the Alienation of the People and the Home (; ''NA'') until 1977 and the National Action for People and Home () until 1990, when it was renamed to its current name.

History

The ''Nationale Aktion'' was originally a far-right

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

movement pursuing an anti-immigration agenda, founded in 1961. The party "emerged as a reaction to the influx of foreign workers", particularly Italians, during this time. The party submitted several popular initiatives that supported reduced immigration, most notably one in June 1970 that narrowly failed. Its first representative in the National Council was James Schwarzenbach, who was first elected in 1967. After a hostile split with Schwarzenbach in 1971, who formed the Republican Movement, the party lost most of its momentum during the 1970s. It had a strong resurgence in the early 1980s, and it won five seats in the 1991 federal elections, the most it had ever held. After another hostile split with former president Valentin Oehen in 1986, the party was renamed to its current name in 1990. After 1998, the party lost nearly all significance in national politics because of the absorption of right-wing votes into the growing

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

. In the 2003 federal elections, the party won 1.0% of the vote and one out of 200 seats in the National Council. This seat was lost in the 2007 elections, where the SD fell to 0.5% of the popular vote. After their severe election loss, the party congress decided not to disband but to continue competing in elections, striving to return to parliament.

Federal elections

Party presidents

Source: * James Schwarzenbach (?–1971) *Rudolf Weber (1971/72) * Valentin Oehen (1972–1980) * Hans Zwicky (1980–1986) * Rudolf Keller (1986–2005) * Bernhard Hess (2005–2012) * Andreas Stahel (2012–)

References

Bibliography

External links